kayley is... a creator, writer, and public speaker. a startup founder, and self-care advocate. a minimalist and feminist. a cat lover. she was named one of the top 10 entrepreneurs to watch in 2017.

May 19 Health > Hustle

If you have me on Facebook (or Instagram, or we're friends IRL) you know that May is the most intense month of the year for me: it's Mental Health Month. Which means a lot of travel, events, and speaking gigs for Wear Your Label. Out of 31 days this month, I'm home for 5 of them. 16%. The other 84% of my life is spent travelling. If you told high-school-me that this would be my life at 22, I probably wouldn't believe you.

From fancy galas, to weekly photo shoots, working with celebrities and launching a collaboration with one of Canada's leading fashion retailers... The past week of my life has looked something like this:

But there's downsides too:

living out of a suitcase for 3 consecutive weeks, maintaining a relationship though morning phone calls and goodnight texts, spending 50+ hours in airports and on planes (most of which have 0 to sketchy Wi-Fi at best). The one thing I do love about flying so much is it gives me a lot of time to think, and write(things like this). Otherwise, it's really draining - especially going back and forth between East Coast and West.

It caught up with me last Monday - my last day in Santa Monica. I was stupidly sick for 12 hours straight (I'll spare you the ugly details). Thankfully I had a cozy bed, and kind friends, and this dog who wouldn't leave my side. But, I missed an entire day of meetings in LA.

HEALTH > HUSTLE

As crushed as I was, my body was pretty adamant about me slowing down before another big week. It's hard; self-care doesn't always come second nature. Especially to busy people, overachievers, entrepreneurs.

It's all about the hustle. We glorify it. We crave it. We're accustomed to it.

We live in a society where we willingly sacrifice health for "hustle" and call it success.

And honestly, I'm kinda over it. Having a busy schedule doesn't inherently make you successful. Answering e-mails at midnight doesn't make you inherently driven... There's a time and place for everything - yes, there will be busy months; yes, you will spend some late nights catching up on e-mails - but there's also a time and place for self-care.

Unless you make time for yourself, you won't be at 100% for all the rest. I've learned that the hard way.

So now, my first stop after a long day of flying? The hot tub. Because why the hell not?

You only live once; if you're gonna enjoy the hustle, you have to place value on your health.